Friday, August 31, 2012

Mystery, Mayans and Mayhem: looking for chocolate, love and an international art thief in all the wrong places. Chocolate addict Kalena Boyko wasn’t prepared for this. Heading to work at Canada’s largest museum as an administrator, she hoped for quiet and uninterrupted access to her secret chocolate stash.

Instead she’s assigned to manage the high-profile Treasures of the Maya exhibition with her loathed former boss Richard Pritchard. With no warning, her life is turned inside out and propelled into warp speed as she stumbles across an insider plot that could jeopardize the exhibit and the reputation of the museum. After hearing about a recent botched theft at the museum and an unsolved jewel heist in the past from security guard and amateur sleuth Marco Zeffirelli, Kalena becomes suspicious of Richard and is convinced he’s planning to sabotage the Treasures of the Maya exhibition. Her suspicions, and the appearance of the mysterious but charming Geoffrey Ogden from the London office, don’t help her concentration. The Treasures of the Maya seem cursed as problem after problem arises, including the disappearance of a key artefact - the world’s oldest piece of chocolate ...

About the Author

Soon after finishing her graduate studies in history, Luba landed on the doorstep of Canada’s largest museum, the Royal Ontario Museum where she worked for more than 20 years. Moving from positions in the education and programs departments to the museum’s consulting branch, she concluded her career in the office that managed the museum’s recent controversial architectural renovation. After leaving the museum, Luba worked for several years in an administrative and research capacity for a private museum consulting firm with offices in Toronto and London. She currently works in the educational sector and teaches yoga in her home town of Toronto. Theft by Chocolate is Luba’s debut novel though she has been amusing people with her writing since the age of eight. Her love of chocolate precedes this age and she has been in and out of chocolate rehab for most of her adult life. When not writing or looking for her next chocolate fix, Luba can be found in dance classes, trekking to remote waterfalls in the mountain rain forest in Puerto Rico, running through the streets of Paris or any other number of calorie-burning activities that help offset her chocolate intake.

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy a funny well written cozy mystery with a likeable heroine who is a chocoholic.

Chocoholic administrator Kalena Boyko is headed to work at one of Canada's largest museum hoping to have an interrupted quiet and unlimited access to her secret chocolate stash.

Instead she is assigned to work with Richard Pritchard her former boss to manage the high profile Treasures of the Maya exhibit. One day she stumbles onto an insider plot that will jeopardize the exhibit and the museum's reputation. She becomes suspicious of Richard and that he is planning to sabotage the Treasures of Maya exhibit after learning about an attempted theft at the museum and a jewel heist from security guard Marco Zeffirelli.

I really enjoyed reading the description of Toronto and London and it made you feel like you were right there with Kalena and crew. Both Kalena and I have an obsession with chocolate and I found some that I need to try out after reading this book. I also enjoyed the love triangle between Kalena, Marco and Geoffey.

I hope there are future books with Kalena and crew!

4/5

Thanks Attica Books and Carissa for sending me this book to review, greatly appreciated!

Once in a lifetime, a writer puts it all together. This is James Patterson's best book ever.

Total

For 36 years, James Patterson has written unputdownable, pulse-racing novels. Now, he has written a book that surpasses all of them. ZOO is the thriller he was born to write.

World

All over the world, brutal attacks are crippling entire cities. Jackson Oz, a young biologist, watches the escalating events with an increasing sense of dread. When he witnesses a coordinated lion ambush in Africa, the enormity of the violence to come becomes terrifyingly clear.

Destruction

With the help of ecologist Chloe Tousignant, Oz races to warn world leaders before it's too late. The attacks are growing in ferocity, cunning, and planning, and soon there will be no place left for humans to hide.

Guardian (Berkley Sensation) [Mass Market Paperback]

THEY’D DO ANYTHING FOR COUNTRY.

AND EVERYTHING FOR EACH OTHER.

After a dark ops malfunction, Major David Berg finds himself dead center in a military trial. It’s a race against time to root out the truth, and Major Sophie Campbell isn’t making that any easier. The hot JAG wants to bring down David’s unit and fast. His testimony is crucial to winning a case that will make her career. All Sophie has to do is ignore this witness’s unflappable charm, his unnerving good looks, and a strong, solid presence that commands her attention.

It’s not easy for David, either. His attraction to this take-charge beauty is turning him inside out. But these adversaries have more in common than secret, mutual desire. There’s a traitor somewhere in the dark ops and
now, to find him, David and Sophie must work together — relentlessly, tirelessly, and so intimately it could be damn near fatal.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

I've finished "The Sleeping and the Dead" the 1st book in his Jackie Lyons series by Jeff Crook.

A new mystery series starring a Memphis crime scene photographer with ghostly assistance

Jackie Lyons is a former vice detective with the Memphis Police Department who is trying to put her life back together: her husband has sent divorce papers, she's broke, and needs a place to live. But a failed marriage, unemployment, and most recently a fire in her apartment aren’t her only problems: she also sees ghosts.

Since Jackie left the force, she’s been making ends meet by photographing crime scenes for her old friends on the force, and for the occasional collector. When she is called to the murder scene of the Playhouse Killer's latest victim, she starts seeing crime scenes from a different perspective-- her new camera captures images of ghosts. As her new camera brings her occasional ghostly visitors into sharper relief, it also points her toward clues the ex-detective in her won’t let go: did the man she has just started dating kill his wife? Is the Playhouse Killer someone she knows?

As Jackie works to separate natural from supernatural, friend from foe, and light from dark, the spirit world and her own difficult past become the only things she can depend on to solve the case.

About the Author

A technical writer/editor for the U.S. Postal Service, JEFF CROOK is also the author of several fantasy books in the Dragonlance series including Conundrum and The Thieves' Guild. He lives in Mississippi with his wife and two sons. This is his first mystery.

Jackie Lyons is a former Memphis Vice Detective who is trying to put her life back together (her husband has sent her divorce papers and she's in financial need and in need of a place. Her biggest problem is she sees ghosts since childhood which she shares with her older brother and her drug addiction which helps her cope with difficult situations (who died at 15).

She is making ends meet by taking photographs at crime scenes for friends still on the force and for occasional collector. She is called to the crime scene of the Playhouse Killer and she starts seeing the scenes in a different perspective - her camera captures the images of ghosts.

Her sponsor is Sargent Adam McPeak the officer in charge of the Playhouse murder investigation. Jackie is aware of her compromised situation of selling some crime scene photos to a key player in the investigation Michi Mori a old pervert who has a houseful of nubile young men at his disposal. She is also dating a man who may or may not have killed his wife.

This was a thrilling murder mystery with a truly disturbing villain, a flawed female character that isn't perfect in any way, very graphic crime scenes with lots of twists and turns and a cat and mouse game that will either in death or victory.

1777: In the throes of the Revolutionary War, Landon Mansion is commandeered by British Lord "Butcher" Bedford. He stabs Lucy Tarleton — who spurned his king and his love — leaving her to die in her father's arms.

NOW: After the day's final tour, docent Allison Leigh makes her rounds while locking up … and finds a colleague slumped over Bedford's desk, impaled on his own replica bayonet.

Resident ghosts may be the stock-in-trade of stately Philadelphia homes, but Allison — a noted historian — is indignant at the prospect of "ghost hunters" investigating this apparent murder.

Agent Tyler Montague knows his hauntings and his history. But while Allison is skeptical of the newcomer, a second mysterious murder occurs. Has "Butcher" Bedford resurfaced? Or is there another malevolent force at work in Landon Mansion? Wary, yet deeply attracted, Allison has to trust in Tyler and work with him to discover just what uninvited guest — dead or alive — has taken over the house.

As the city sleeps in the early hours of September 10, 2001, the killer waits and watches, unaware of the cataclysm to come. Even the nightmare of 9/11 will not postpone his private reign of terror.

Allison Taylor adores her adopted city, New York, loving every minute of the invigorating urban hustle. But on a bright and clear September morning, the familiar landscape around her is savagely altered — and in the midst of widespread chaos and fear, a woman living upstairs from her is found, brutally slaughtered and mutilated.

For Allison . . . for her neighbor, James "Mack" MacKenna, desperately searching for news of his missing wife . . . for homicide detective Rocky Manzillo, hunting for a monster called "The Nightwatcher" amid the smoking ruins of a devastated city, this tragic day will hold a special horror. Because a different kind of terror has entered their lives . . . and it's coming to claim Allison Taylor as its next victim.

"Do unto others..." Carefully, he carves the words into their flesh. The victims are all young, brunette, pretty. But she's the one he really wants. The others are just a way to ease the rage that has festered for years, until the only thing that calms him is his knife slicing through skin. Detective September Rafferty - Nine to her friends - recognizes the artwork that arrives in the mail. She created it back in second grade. Now a killer's words are slashed across it in what looks like blood. He knows her. September's investigation leads to her old classmate, Jake Westerly. She wants to believe Jake is innocent. But trusting anyone could be her last mistake. Every slight, every slur, he remembers them all. They turned him into a monster, and now they will suffer for it. Starting with September, he'll show them that the past can never stay hidden, and the time of vengeance is at hand.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

I've finished "Backfire" the book in her FBI series by Catherine Coulter.

Product Description

San Francisco Judge Ramsey Hunt, longtime friend to FBI agents Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich, is presiding over the trial of Clive and Cindy Cahill – accused in a string of murders – when the proceedings take a radical turn. Federal prosecutor Mickey O'Rourke, known for his relentless style, becomes suddenly tentative in his opening statement, leading Hunt to suspect he’s been threatened – suspicions that are all but confirmed when Hunt is shot in the back.

Savich and Sherlock receive news of the attack as an ominous note is delivered to Savich at the Hoover Building: YOU DESERVE THIS FOR WHAT YOU DID. Security tapes fail to reveal who delivered the tapes. Who is behind the shooting of Judge Ramsey Hunt? Who sent the note to Savich? And what does it all mean? Savich and Sherlock race to San Francisco to find out … watching their backs all the while.

About the Author

Catherine Coulter is the author of the New York Times-bestselling FBI thrillers The Cove, The Maze, The Target, The Edge, Riptide, Hemlock Bay, Eleventh House, Blindside, Blowout, Point Blank, Double Take, TailSpin, KnockOut, Whiplash, and Split Second. She lives in northern California.

In San Francisco Judge Ramsay Hunt is shot in the back after halting a murder trial earlier that day. A federal prosecutor is missing while his clients are not worried. Some of the people called in to help are US Federal Marshall Eve Barbieri, SFPD Virginia Trolley, FBI Dillon Savich, his wife Lacey Sherlock, Cheney Stone and even the CIA are called in when Judge Hunt was shot. Eve, Virginia, Dillon and Lacy are close friends of Judge Hunt and his wife Molly, his daughter Emma and his two twin sons which makes it personal to them.

At the same time, Dillon Savich receives a cryptic note with the words: YOU DESERVE THIS FOR WHAT YOU DID which sounds like a threat. When Dillon and Sherlock get a frantic call from Molly asking them to come they rush right away with their five year old son Sean in tow. Sherlock's parents live in San Fran and volunteer to take care of Sean and they know the Hunt family as well.

FBI agent Harry Christoff is the liason officer assigned to work with Eve and you literally can see the sparks flying from the first moment they meet. As they investigate further they realize there is two killers involved and that both are very smart, great at disguises and get aways.

Emma has her own subplot being a piano prodigy and Sean's enormous crush on her and his declaration that he is going to marry her.

Backfire is a action packed thrill ride with lots of twist and turns with two very vicious and deadly killers.

4/5

Thanks Penguin Canada for sending me this book to review, greatly appreciated!

1777: In the throes of the Revolutionary War, Landon Mansion is commandeered by British Lord "Butcher" Bedford. He stabs Lucy Tarleton — who spurned his king and his love — leaving her to die in her father's arms.

NOW: After the day's final tour, docent Allison Leigh makes her rounds while locking up … and finds a colleague slumped over Bedford's desk, impaled on his own replica bayonet.

Resident ghosts may be the stock-in-trade of stately Philadelphia homes, but Allison — a noted historian — is indignant at the prospect of "ghost hunters" investigating this apparent murder.

Agent Tyler Montague knows his hauntings and his history. But while Allison is skeptical of the newcomer, a second mysterious murder occurs. Has "Butcher" Bedford resurfaced? Or is there another malevolent force at work in Landon Mansion? Wary, yet deeply attracted, Allison has to trust in Tyler and work with him to discover just what uninvited guest — dead or alive — has taken over the house.

As the city sleeps in the early hours of September 10, 2001, the killer waits and watches, unaware of the cataclysm to come. Even the nightmare of 9/11 will not postpone his private reign of terror.

Allison Taylor adores her adopted city, New York, loving every minute of the invigorating urban hustle. But on a bright and clear September morning, the familiar landscape around her is savagely altered — and in the midst of widespread chaos and fear, a woman living upstairs from her is found, brutally slaughtered and mutilated.

For Allison . . . for her neighbor, James "Mack" MacKenna, desperately searching for news of his missing wife . . . for homicide detective Rocky Manzillo, hunting for a monster called "The Nightwatcher" amid the smoking ruins of a devastated city, this tragic day will hold a special horror. Because a different kind of terror has entered their lives . . . and it's coming to claim Allison Taylor as its next victim.

"Do unto others..." Carefully, he carves the words into their flesh. The victims are all young, brunette, pretty. But she's the one he really wants. The others are just a way to ease the rage that has festered for years, until the only thing that calms him is his knife slicing through skin. Detective September Rafferty - Nine to her friends - recognizes the artwork that arrives in the mail. She created it back in second grade. Now a killer's words are slashed across it in what looks like blood. He knows her. September's investigation leads to her old classmate, Jake Westerly. She wants to believe Jake is innocent. But trusting anyone could be her last mistake. Every slight, every slur, he remembers them all. They turned him into a monster, and now they will suffer for it. Starting with September, he'll show them that the past can never stay hidden, and the time of vengeance is at hand.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Two years ago, Ava's two-year-old son Noah went missing, and his body has never been found. Ava has spent most of the past two years in and out of Seattle mental institutions, shattered by grief and unable to recall the details of Noah's disappearance. Now she's back at the family estate she once intended to restore to its former grandeur. But as Ava's mind comes back into focus, her suspicions grow. Ava can't shake the feeling that her family and her psychologist know more than they're saying. Unwilling to trust those around her, Ava secretly visits a hypnotist to try and restore her memories. But the strange visions and night terrors keep getting worse. Ava is sure she's heard Noah crying in the nursery, and glimpsed him walking near the dock. Is she losing her mind, or is Noah still alive? Ava won't stop until she gets answers, but the price may be more than she ever thought to pay ...

About the Author

Lisa Jackson has been writing romantic fiction for fifteen years. Over sixty of her books have been published and reprinted in more than a dozen foreign languages. A single mother, she is a native of Oregon, where she still resides with her two teenage sons. Lisa is often asked what is the key to her success, and her unfailing answer is a keen imagination, incredible friends, loving family, and always, loads of laughter. As Oscar Wilde is purported to have said, "Life is too important to be taken seriously.

This book is full of red herrings and tons of twists and turns which makes it a very intriguing read. It definitely is a page turner with some truly creepy characters.

It has been two years since Ava Garrison lost her son Noah and everyone believes he drowned. Ava has always been a confident and take charge women but she broke down and her husband Wyatt committed her in several mental institutes. Now she has come home at last to Neptune Gate situated on an island with her creepy relatives and servants. She is the sole owner except for her cousin Jewel-Anne a paraplegic who hasn't sold her share to her.

Ava starts seeing Noah on the dock and hearing his cries coming from his room. She is even having dreams about him and she even plunges into the ocean after she though she saw him on the dock one day. She is saved by the new hired hand Austin Dern and her family believes she should be committed once again. Ava starts to believe that Noah is alive and with Austin's help she starts to uncover clues that someone is trying to make her believe she is crazy. Then bodies start turning up and they are connected to Ava and she becomes the prime suspect.

Austin seems to have his own hidden agenda and he figures out that Ava is connected. He is on the search for the elusive mental patient escapee Lester Reece who killed his ex-wife and her best friend. We find out that he had an affair with the best friend and a lot of women in the area.

Ava is surrounded by enemies which includes her own family and unfaithful husband Wyatt. Her marriage has dissolved since the night of Noah's disappearance and he's a complete stranger to her.

Her cousin Jewel-Anne has been in a wheelchair since a boating accident has left her paralyze. As a result, she is quite bitter and vengeful and blames Ava for her predicament. She listens through peepholes and spies on Ava while creeping around the house.

Khloe was engaged to Ava's brother Kelvin and they use to be best friends until his death from a boating accident. She used to be Noah's nanny.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

I've finished "Kill You Twice" the 5th book in her Archie Sheridan/Gretchen Lowell series by Chelsea Cain.

Nothing makes Portland detective Archie Sheridan happier than knowing that Gretchen Lowell — the serial killer whose stunning beauty is belied by the gruesome murders she’s committed — is locked away in a psych ward. Archie can finally heal from the near-fatal physical and emotional wounds she’s inflicted on him and start moving on with his life.

To this end, Archie throws himself into the latest case to come across his desk: A cyclist has discovered a corpse in Mount Tabor Park on the eastern side of Portland. The man was gagged, skinned, and found hanging by his wrists from a tree. It’s the work of a killer bold and clever enough to torture his victim for hours on a sunny summer morning in a big public park and yet leave no trace.

And then Archie gets a message he can’t ignore — Gretchen claims to have inside knowledge about this grisly murder. Archie finally agrees to visit Gretchen, because he can’t risk losing his only lead in the case. At least, that’s what he tells himself . . . but the ties between Archie and Gretchen have always been stronger, deeper, and more complex than he’s willing to admit, even to himself. What game is she playing this time? And even more frightening, what long-hidden secrets from Gretchen’s past have been dredged up that someone would kill to protect?

At once terrifying and magnetic, “Beauty Killer” Gretchen Lowell returns with a vengeance in Kill You Twice, Chelsea Cain’s latest razor-sharp psychological thriller.

About the Author

CHELSEA CAIN’S first four novels featuring Archie Sheridan have all been New York Times bestsellers. Also the author of Confessions of a Teen Sleuth, a parody based on the life of Nancy Drew, and several nonfiction titles, she was born in Iowa, raised in Bellingham, Washington, and now lives in Portland, Oregon.

I highly recommend this series if you enjoy a tortured hero obsessed with a beautiful but deadly killer interwoven with great secondary characters and gruesome and descriptive crime scenes.

Portland Homicide Detective Archie Sheridan is still struggling with the ordeal of being tortured and maimed by his arch rival Gretchen Lowell. He still bears physical and emotional scars from his terrifying encounters with the beautiful, cunning and deadly killer. He sometimes rubs his scars (especially the heart she curved over his chest) until they start bleeding. He has struggled to overcome his pill addiction and is now clean but not totally healed. He suffers insomnia and his marriage ended though he sees his kids regularly.

One hot summer day Archie is called to a gruesome murder scene with his partner Henry Sobel. A man's body was left hanging from the lower branches of a cedar tree with his wrists and ankles were tied with rope. He was also tortured and mutilated (he was hit on the head with a hammer and his skin was carved from his chest and abdomen). They discover he works at a local girls shelter and he finds a familiar face Pearl. Then another body is discovered burning under a landmark. The only clue to tie the two crimes is a white Lily.

Gretchen asks Susan Ward by way of her psychiatrist to visit her in jail so she can tell her about her very first kill James Beaton. She describes how she killed him and drops clues that she wants Susan to relay to Archie. She also drops a name Ryan Motley to peak his interest and make sure he would come visit her.

When he finally comes she informs him she knows who the killer is Colin Beaton. Colin and Gretchen share a past together because they both had the same foster parents. She also asks him to protect her daughter Pearl from Colin because she's his next target.

Archie's personal life is quite complicated with the aftereffects of his divorce and his unresolved feelings for Susan. Then there is the new neighbor Rachel a young and dangerous women who bears an uncanny resemblance to Gretchen. There seems to be mutual attraction between them and they start a sexual relationship and it's funny how she has heart tattoo on her back.

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

I've finished "Haven" the 13th book in her Bishop/Special Crimes Unit series by Kay Hooper.

Product Description
New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper returns with a breathtaking new thriller of a young woman’s homecoming — to a town of menacing whispers, bad dreams, and dangerous secrets …

Another nightmare, in the woods this time. Different: She was running. Trying to escape.
But the same ending. Always the same ending. Another dead girl …

Emma Rayburn was born and raised in Baron Hollow, North Carolina, and it was a quiet life. Then came the accident … and the nightmares — each filled with unshakable visions of darkness, blind panic, and desperate women chased toward inevitable death. With no reports of local women missing or found dead, Emma has written it off to troubled imaginings — night after dreaded night. Until her sister arrives.

Jessie Rayburn, psychic investigator for a firm called Haven, has been estranged from Emma for years. Unresolved issues from Jessie’s past have not only kept them apart but have been clouding Jessie’s unique abilities. A return to her hometown to face a dark and violent incident from years gone by is her chance to regain them. But reconciliation with the past comes with a price. Few people in Baron Hollow are welcoming Jessie back. No one dares to breathe a word. And in this conspiracy of silence, Emma’s nightmares are becoming more vivid than ever.

Even with the help of Noah Bishop, head of the FBI Special Crimes Unit and co-founder of Haven, Jessie and Emma soon find themselves outnumbered by the secrets buried in Baron Hollow — and outrunning an evil that has been festering for years, one that’s targeting Jessie and Emma one last time.

About the Author

KAY HOOPER is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Blood Ties, Blood Dreams, Blood Sins, and other novels. She lives in North Carolina.

Jessie Rayburn has returned home to Baron Hollow, North Carolina after fifteen years passed. She left at seventeen after something happened though she doesn't remember and vowing never to return.

Jessie works as a psychic investigator for Haven a privately owned company that is associated with Bishop's FBI Special Crimes Unit. She decides to take a two week vacation to go visit her younger sister Emma who she hasn't seen or spoken to in fifteen years. When she finally arrives the people of Baron aren't happy to see her.

Jessie is determined to find out what happened all those years ago to make her forgot. Every day she goes exploring the woods and talking to people hoping to get a clue or meeting someone that will help her remember. What she discovers leads her into a dangerous situation which she won't survive.

Emma Rayburn has stayed home and has converted their former home into a bed and breakfast. Emma has been having terrifying and frightening nightmares ever since her accident. In each one she dreams about a women being stalked and been brutally murdered which she writes down in her journal when she wakes up. She finds out there is no reports of missing or dead women.

Nathan Navarro another Haven investigator and others are in town to stop the serial killer.

I've finished "Afraid to Die" the 4th book in her Selena Alvarez and Regan Pescoli series by Lisa Jackson.

Product Description

The town of Grizzly Falls is on edge, and Detective Selena Alvarez is no exception. A string of terrifying murders has been solved, but a new nightmare is about to unfold. Two women are missing — both of whom Selena knew. In a small town like Grizzly Falls, that’s no surprise. But when their bodies are found, frozen solid and deliberately displayed, Selena is shocked to the core. Each victim wears a piece of her jewelry.

Selena’s partner, Detective Regan Pescoli, and the entire department are on the case, as is P.I. Dylan O’Keefe — a man Selena got too close to once before. But this killer already knows too much about the mistakes Selena has tried to outrun. The secrets of her past are coming to the surface, one by one. And soon a madman bent on revenge will show her just how much she has to lose …

About the Author

Lisa Jackson is the number-one New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy-five novels, including Shiver, Fatal Burn, Deep Freeze, The Morning After, and Absolute Fear. She has over ten million copies of her books in print. She lives with her family and an eighty-pound dog in the Pacific Northwest.

This book opens a year later after the end of "Born to Die" and we learn the events that has shaped Selena into who she is. Regan is still battling and arguing with her two children and parents can relate to her situation. We also see both their relationships developing and deepening with the men in their lives and the Christmas rituals around the police station.

A serial killer has claimed two women and leaving their naked bodies encased in a block of ice. He is displaying them in the same manner and seems to be taunting Selena by leaving personal items at the scene of the crimes. He is leaving a message and is threatening to her since she knew both victims.

We learn a secret about Selena that she doesn't want anyone knowing about - her long lost son she gave up visits her house and old boyfriend and partner Dylan O'Keefe a PI comes back into her life.

This book is another nail biting and thrilling mystery with a gruesome killer.

Thursday, August 9, 2012

I've finished "I, Michael Bennett" the 5th book in his Michael Bennett series by James Patterson.

Product Description

Police officers shot

Detective Michael Bennett arrests an infamous Mexican crime lord in a deadly chase that leaves Bennett's lifelong friend Hughie McDonough dead. From jail, the prisoner vows to rain epic violence down upon New York City - and to get revenge on Michael Bennett.

Judges murdered

To escape the chaos, Bennett takes his ten kids and their beautiful nanny, Mary Catherine, on a much-needed vacation to his family's cabin near Newburgh, New York. But instead of the calm and happy town he remembers from growing up, they step into a nightmare worse than they could have ever imagined. Newburgh is an inferno of warring gangs, and there's little the police-or Bennett-can do to keep the children safe.

Target: Michael Bennett

As violence overwhelms the state, Bennett is torn between protecting his hometown and saving New York City. A partner in his investigations, federal prosecutor Tara McLellan, brings him new weapons for the battle - and an attraction that endangers his relationship with Mary Catherine.

About the Author

James Patterson has had more New York Times bestsellers than any other writer, ever, according to Guinness World Records. Since his first novel won the Edgar Award in 1977, James Patterson's books have sold more than 240 million copies. He is the author of the Alex Cross novels, the most popular detective series of the past twenty-five years, including Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider. Mr. Patterson also writes the bestselling Women's Murder Club novels, set in San Francisco, and the top-selling New York detective series of all time, featuring Detective Michael Bennett. He writes full-time and lives in Florida with his family.

Michael Ledwidge is the author of The Narrowback, Bad Connection, and most recently, the coauthor, with James Patterson, of The Quickie, Step on a Crack, Run For Your Life, Worst Case, and Tick Tock.

Michael Bennett is a well respected high ranking NYPD detective who is widower and a father to ten children. He has help from Mary Catherine their full time nanny and his love interest and his grandfather Seamus.

The book opens with Michael at the front of the task force who's goal is to take down the dangerous drug kingpin Manuel "The Sun God" Perrine. He is originally from France but has risen up the ranks to head up the dangerous and violent Mexican drug cartels. Michael has information that Perrine will be in New York and he is determined to arrest Perrine and his lieutenants once and for all. Perrine is arrested at a great cost Michael's best friend and colleague Hughie is left dead. Marietta Perrine's deadly and beautiful bodyguard manages to get away is determined to do anything to set Perrine free.

Perrine manages to run his entire operation from jail and vows to seek revenge on Michael by killing off his family and friends. Michael isn't intimidated and makes sure that Perrine gets what coming to him and cleans up the streets of Newburgh. The rivalry between Michael and Perrine becomes more personal and deadly.

Michael is working with Tara and they are both attracted to each other. This attraction is the final straw and Mary Catherine leaves him and his family. He is heartbroken and finally understand what he has lost. Will Mary ever come back you will have to read to find out!

This book was fast paced with a lot of action from the beginning to the end of the book. The villains are very cruel and vile with no remorse and very deadly. The crime scenes are very bloody and descriptive.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Two years ago, Ava's two-year-old son Noah went missing, and his body has never been found. Ava has spent most of the past two years in and out of Seattle mental institutions, shattered by grief and unable to recall the details of Noah's disappearance. Now she's back at the family estate she once intended to restore to its former grandeur. But as Ava's mind comes back into focus, her suspicions grow. Ava can't shake the feeling that her family and her psychologist know more than they're saying. Unwilling to trust those around her, Ava secretly visits a hypnotist to try and restore her memories. But the strange visions and night terrors keep getting worse. Ava is sure she's heard Noah crying in the nursery, and glimpsed him walking near the dock. Is she losing her mind, or is Noah still alive? Ava won't stop until she gets answers, but the price may be more than she ever thought to pay ...

Electrifying suspense, cutting-edge psychological insight, and an unforgettably sensuous love story — these are the trademarks of Karen Robards’s sizzling novels. Now the New York Times bestselling author launches a red-hot new paranormal romantic thriller series featuring the fascinating Dr. Charlotte Stone, a serial killer expert whose extraordinary powers lead her from ecstasy to terror.

THE LAST VICTIM

Dr. Charlotte Stone sees what others do not.

A sought-after expert in criminal pathology, Charlie regularly sits face-to-face with madmen. Obsessed with learning what makes human monsters commit terrible crimes, Charlie desires little else from life—no doubt because when she was sixteen, she herself survived a serial killer’s bloodbath: A man butchered the family of Charlie’s best friend, Holly, then left the girl’s body on a seaside boardwalk one week later.

Because of the information Charlie gave police, the Boardwalk Killer went underground. She kept to herself her eerie postmortem visions of Holly and her mother. And even years later, knowing her contact with ghosts might undermine her credibility as a psychological expert, Charlie tells no one about the visits she gets from the spirit world.

Now all-too-handsome FBI agent Tony Bartoli is telling Charlie that a teenage girl is missing, her family slaughtered. Bartoli suspects that after fifteen years, the Boardwalk Killer — or a sick copycat with his M.O. — is back. Time is running short for an innocent, kidnapped girl, and Bartoli pleads for Charlie’s help.

This is the one case Charlie shouldn’t go near. But she also knows that she may be the one person in the world who can stop this vicious killer. For Charlie — whose good looks disguise a world of hurt, vulnerability, and potent psychic gifts — a frantic hunt for a madman soon becomes a complex test of cunning, passions, and secrets. Aiding Dr. Stone on her quest to catch a madman is a ghostly presence with bad intentions: the fiery spirit of seductive bad boy Michael Garland who refuses to be ignored, though in his cat and mouse game they may both lose their hearts.

Dr. Charlotte Stone sees what others do not. And she sees the Boardwalk Killer coming for her.

Nothing makes Portland detective Archie Sheridan happier than knowing that Gretchen Lowell — the serial killer whose stunning beauty is belied by the gruesome murders she’s committed — is locked away in a psych ward. Archie can finally heal from the near-fatal physical and emotional wounds she’s inflicted on him and start moving on with his life.

To this end, Archie throws himself into the latest case to come across his desk: A cyclist has discovered a corpse in Mount Tabor Park on the eastern side of Portland. The man was gagged, skinned, and found hanging by his wrists from a tree. It’s the work of a killer bold and clever enough to torture his victim for hours on a sunny summer morning in a big public park and yet leave no trace.

And then Archie gets a message he can’t ignore — Gretchen claims to have inside knowledge about this grisly murder. Archie finally agrees to visit Gretchen, because he can’t risk losing his only lead in the case. At least, that’s what he tells himself . . . but the ties between Archie and Gretchen have always been stronger, deeper, and more complex than he’s willing to admit, even to himself. What game is she playing this time? And even more frightening, what long-hidden secrets from Gretchen’s past have been dredged up that someone would kill to protect?

At once terrifying and magnetic, “Beauty Killer” Gretchen Lowell returns with a vengeance in Kill You Twice, Chelsea Cain’s latest razor-sharp psychological thriller.

Practical psychologist Liz Cooper and occult professor Nick Garfield are enjoying the sixteenth wedding anniversary celebration for their charming hosts Paco and Lucia Rojas, devout Santeria practitioners who own the historic Botanica Rojas near MacArthur Park. But the small group of friends is left horrified and confused when the evening ends in tragedy.

Devastated by loss, Lucia, a Santeria priestess, blames the locals for the escalating crime in her beloved community. She casts a vengeful hex on the neighborhood, leading strangers and friends alike to dub her bruja -- Spanish for witch -- and turn on the elderly woman. Lucia may be in harm's way, and it's up to Liz and Nick to unravel a mysterious disappearance and solve a murder before more lives are lost ...

Preparing calorie-conscious meals for the dieters of Woodstone, Connecticut, Gigi Fitzgerald knows a cheater when she sees one. And when murder is on the menu, she's ready to get the skinny on whodunit ...

Business is looking up for Gigi's Gourmet De-Lite, thanks to her newest client, restaurant reviewer Martha Bernhardt. Martha has the clout to put Gigi's personal meal plans on everyone's lips. But instead of dropping a few pounds, Martha drops dead from a severe peanut allergy ... right after eating one of Gigi's signature dishes.

When the distractingly debonair Detective Mertz identifies traces of peanut oil in Martha's last meal, Gigi suddenly finds her diet catering business on the chopping block. Now she'll have to track down who tampered with her recipe before her own goose is cooked.

Saturday, August 4, 2012

In the Mail Saturday is hosted every Saturday at Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews.

I received these in the mail this week.

Haven (A Bishop/SCU Novel) [Hardcover]

New York Times bestselling author Kay Hooper returns with a breathtaking new thriller of a young woman’s homecoming — to a town of menacing whispers, bad dreams, and dangerous secrets …

Another nightmare, in the woods this time. Different: She was running. Trying to escape.
But the same ending. Always the same ending. Another dead girl …

Emma Rayburn was born and raised in Baron Hollow, North Carolina, and it was a quiet life. Then came the accident … and the nightmares — each filled with unshakable visions of darkness, blind panic, and desperate women chased toward inevitable death. With no reports of local women missing or found dead, Emma has written it off to troubled imaginings — night after dreaded night. Until her sister arrives.

Jessie Rayburn, psychic investigator for a firm called Haven, has been estranged from Emma for years. Unresolved issues from Jessie’s past have not only kept them apart but have been clouding Jessie’s unique abilities. A return to her hometown to face a dark and violent incident from years gone by is her chance to regain them. But reconciliation with the past comes with a price. Few people in Baron Hollow are welcoming Jessie back. No one dares to breathe a word. And in this conspiracy of silence, Emma’s nightmares are becoming more vivid than ever.

Even with the help of Noah Bishop, head of the FBI Special Crimes Unit and co-founder of Haven, Jessie and Emma soon find themselves outnumbered by the secrets buried in Baron Hollow — and outrunning an evil that has been festering for years, one that’s targeting Jessie and Emma one last time.

Backfire (Fbi Thriller) [Large Print] [Paperback]
San Francisco judge Ramsey Hunt, longtime friend to FBI agents Lacey Sherlock and Dillon Savich, begins the murder trial of Clive and Cindy Cahill only to have federal prosecutor Mickey O’Rourke, known for his relentless, aggressive style, suddenly turn tentative and distracted. Hunt suspects that something is very wrong — and then O’Rourke goes missing and Judge Hunt gets shot in the back. Savich and Sherlock receive news of the attack as a mysterious note is delivered to Savich at the Hoover Building: FOR WHAT YOU DID YOU DESERVE THIS. Who sent the note? What does it mean? As Ramsey Hunt’s life hangs in the balance, Savich and Sherlock race to San Francisco to answer the question: Why would anyone shoot the judge? When they discover one answer, more questions arise until Savich and Sherlock face the final shock.

Karin Slaughter’s new novel is an epic tale of love, loyalty, and murder that encompasses forty years, two chillingly similar murder cases, and a good man’s deepest secrets.

Will Trent is a brilliant agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Newly in love, he is beginning to put a difficult past behind him. Then a local college student goes missing, and Will is inexplicably kept off the case by his supervisor and mentor, deputy director Amanda Wagner. Will cannot fathom Amanda’s motivation until the two of them literally collide in an abandoned orphanage they have both been drawn to for different reasons. Decades before — when Will’s father was imprisoned for murder — this was his home . . . .

Flash back nearly forty years. In the summer Will Trent was born, Amanda Wagner is going to college, making Sunday dinners for her father, taking her first steps in the boys’ club that is the Atlanta Police Department. One of her first cases is to investigate a brutal crime in one of the city’s worst neighborhoods. Amanda and her partner, Evelyn, are the only ones who seem to care if an arrest is ever made.

Now the case that launched Amanda’s career has suddenly come back to life, intertwined with the long-held mystery of Will’s birth and parentage. And these two dauntless investigators will each need to face down demons from the past if they are to prevent an even greater terror from being unleashed.

Nothing makes Portland detective Archie Sheridan happier than knowing that Gretchen Lowell — the serial killer whose stunning beauty is belied by the gruesome murders she’s committed — is locked away in a psych ward. Archie can finally heal from the near-fatal physical and emotional wounds she’s inflicted on him and start moving on with his life.

To this end, Archie throws himself into the latest case to come across his desk: A cyclist has discovered a corpse in Mount Tabor Park on the eastern side of Portland. The man was gagged, skinned, and found hanging by his wrists from a tree. It’s the work of a killer bold and clever enough to torture his victim for hours on a sunny summer morning in a big public park and yet leave no trace.

And then Archie gets a message he can’t ignore — Gretchen claims to have inside knowledge about this grisly murder. Archie finally agrees to visit Gretchen, because he can’t risk losing his only lead in the case. At least, that’s what he tells himself . . . but the ties between Archie and Gretchen have always been stronger, deeper, and more complex than he’s willing to admit, even to himself. What game is she playing this time? And even more frightening, what long-hidden secrets from Gretchen’s past have been dredged up that someone would kill to protect?

At once terrifying and magnetic, “Beauty Killer” Gretchen Lowell returns with a vengeance in Kill You Twice, Chelsea Cain’s latest razor-sharp psychological thriller.

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

I've finished "Hell on Wheels" the 1st book in her Black Knight Inc. series by Julie Ann Walker.

Product Description
Black Knights Inc.— Behind the facade of their tricked – out motorcycle shop is an elite special ops team assigned the jobs too hot for anyone else to handle.

Hold On Tight ...

Ex–Marine Nate "Ghost" Weller is an expert at keeping his cool — and his distance — which makes him one hell of a sniper. It's also how he keeps his feelings for Ali Morgan in check. Sweet, sexy Ali has always revved his engine, but she's his best friend's baby sister ... and totally off limits.

Rough Road Ahead
Ali's never seen anything sexier than Nate Weller straddling his custom Harley — or the flash of danger in his eyes when she tells him she's in trouble. First something happened to her brother, and now she's become the target of a nasty international organization. With Nate, her life is in the most capable hands possible — but her heart is another story altogether.

I highly recommend this series if you like a great romantic suspense series with hot heroes and kick ass heroines, great story lines and steamy romance.

Nate Weller aka "Ghost" is a former Marine who belongs to Black Knight Incs. a special ops team who takes jobs too hot for any other team to take. He's a natural at keeping his cool and distance so that makes he a hell of a sniper. Sweet and sexy Ali Morgan has always reved up his engine but she's his best friend's younger sister which makes her off limits.

Ali Morgan knows something bad happened to her older brother Grigg and now she is the target of a deadly national organization. She goes to Nate Walker and the Black Knights Inc. to help her figure out who is after her and for answers to what really happened to her brother. She has never seen a much sexier man in her life than Nate straddling his Harley or the flash of danger in his eyes when he finds out she's in danger.

There has always been an attraction between Nate and Ali ever since they first met when she was only 17. Grigg warned off Nate from looking or touching Ali and Nate has honored that wish. We find out why he hasn't done anything with his attraction to Ali because he feels guilty about Grigg's death.

Two years ago, Ava's two-year-old son Noah went missing, and his body has never been found. Ava has spent most of the past two years in and out of Seattle mental institutions, shattered by grief and unable to recall the details of Noah's disappearance. Now she's back at the family estate she once intended to restore to its former grandeur. But as Ava's mind comes back into focus, her suspicions grow. Ava can't shake the feeling that her family and her psychologist know more than they're saying. Unwilling to trust those around her, Ava secretly visits a hypnotist to try and restore her memories. But the strange visions and night terrors keep getting worse. Ava is sure she's heard Noah crying in the nursery, and glimpsed him walking near the dock. Is she losing her mind, or is Noah still alive? Ava won't stop until she gets answers, but the price may be more than she ever thought to pay ...

Electrifying suspense, cutting-edge psychological insight, and an unforgettably sensuous love story — these are the trademarks of Karen Robards’s sizzling novels. Now the New York Times bestselling author launches a red-hot new paranormal romantic thriller series featuring the fascinating Dr. Charlotte Stone, a serial killer expert whose extraordinary powers lead her from ecstasy to terror.

THE LAST VICTIM

Dr. Charlotte Stone sees what others do not.

A sought-after expert in criminal pathology, Charlie regularly sits face-to-face with madmen. Obsessed with learning what makes human monsters commit terrible crimes, Charlie desires little else from life—no doubt because when she was sixteen, she herself survived a serial killer’s bloodbath: A man butchered the family of Charlie’s best friend, Holly, then left the girl’s body on a seaside boardwalk one week later.

Because of the information Charlie gave police, the Boardwalk Killer went underground. She kept to herself her eerie postmortem visions of Holly and her mother. And even years later, knowing her contact with ghosts might undermine her credibility as a psychological expert, Charlie tells no one about the visits she gets from the spirit world.

Now all-too-handsome FBI agent Tony Bartoli is telling Charlie that a teenage girl is missing, her family slaughtered. Bartoli suspects that after fifteen years, the Boardwalk Killer — or a sick copycat with his M.O. — is back. Time is running short for an innocent, kidnapped girl, and Bartoli pleads for Charlie’s help.

This is the one case Charlie shouldn’t go near. But she also knows that she may be the one person in the world who can stop this vicious killer. For Charlie — whose good looks disguise a world of hurt, vulnerability, and potent psychic gifts — a frantic hunt for a madman soon becomes a complex test of cunning, passions, and secrets. Aiding Dr. Stone on her quest to catch a madman is a ghostly presence with bad intentions: the fiery spirit of seductive bad boy Michael Garland who refuses to be ignored, though in his cat and mouse game they may both lose their hearts.

Dr. Charlotte Stone sees what others do not. And she sees the Boardwalk Killer coming for her.

Nothing makes Portland detective Archie Sheridan happier than knowing that Gretchen Lowell — the serial killer whose stunning beauty is belied by the gruesome murders she’s committed — is locked away in a psych ward. Archie can finally heal from the near-fatal physical and emotional wounds she’s inflicted on him and start moving on with his life.

To this end, Archie throws himself into the latest case to come across his desk: A cyclist has discovered a corpse in Mount Tabor Park on the eastern side of Portland. The man was gagged, skinned, and found hanging by his wrists from a tree. It’s the work of a killer bold and clever enough to torture his victim for hours on a sunny summer morning in a big public park and yet leave no trace.

And then Archie gets a message he can’t ignore — Gretchen claims to have inside knowledge about this grisly murder. Archie finally agrees to visit Gretchen, because he can’t risk losing his only lead in the case. At least, that’s what he tells himself . . . but the ties between Archie and Gretchen have always been stronger, deeper, and more complex than he’s willing to admit, even to himself. What game is she playing this time? And even more frightening, what long-hidden secrets from Gretchen’s past have been dredged up that someone would kill to protect?

At once terrifying and magnetic, “Beauty Killer” Gretchen Lowell returns with a vengeance in Kill You Twice, Chelsea Cain’s latest razor-sharp psychological thriller.

Practical psychologist Liz Cooper and occult professor Nick Garfield are enjoying the sixteenth wedding anniversary celebration for their charming hosts Paco and Lucia Rojas, devout Santeria practitioners who own the historic Botanica Rojas near MacArthur Park. But the small group of friends is left horrified and confused when the evening ends in tragedy.

Devastated by loss, Lucia, a Santeria priestess, blames the locals for the escalating crime in her beloved community. She casts a vengeful hex on the neighborhood, leading strangers and friends alike to dub her bruja -- Spanish for witch -- and turn on the elderly woman. Lucia may be in harm's way, and it's up to Liz and Nick to unravel a mysterious disappearance and solve a murder before more lives are lost ...

Preparing calorie-conscious meals for the dieters of Woodstone, Connecticut, Gigi Fitzgerald knows a cheater when she sees one. And when murder is on the menu, she's ready to get the skinny on whodunit ...

Business is looking up for Gigi's Gourmet De-Lite, thanks to her newest client, restaurant reviewer Martha Bernhardt. Martha has the clout to put Gigi's personal meal plans on everyone's lips. But instead of dropping a few pounds, Martha drops dead from a severe peanut allergy ... right after eating one of Gigi's signature dishes.

When the distractingly debonair Detective Mertz identifies traces of peanut oil in Martha's last meal, Gigi suddenly finds her diet catering business on the chopping block. Now she'll have to track down who tampered with her recipe before her own goose is cooked.